Smokers, beware: tobacco penalties under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act could subject millions of smokers to fees costing thousands of dollars, making healthcare more expensive for them than Americans with other unhealthy habits.

The Affordable Care Act, which critics have also called “Obamacare”, could subject smokers to premiums that are 50 percent higher than usual, starting next Jan 1. Health insurers will be allowed to charge smokers penalties that overweight Americans or those with other health conditions would not be subjected to.

A 60-year-old smoker could pay penalties as high as $5,100, in addition to the premiums, the Associated Press reports. A 55-year-old smoker’s penalty could reach $4,250. The older a smoker is, the higher the penalty will be.

Nearly one in every five U.S. adults smokes, with a higher number of low-income people addicted to the unhealthy habit. Even though smokers are more likely to develop heart disease, cancer and lung problems and would therefore require more health care, the penalties might devastate those who need help the most – including retirees, older Americans, and low-income individuals.

“We don’t want to create barriers for people to get health care coverage,” California state Assemblyman Richard Pan told AP. “We want people who are smoking to get smoking cessation treatment.”

Nearly 450,000 US residents die of smoking-related diseases each year, making the unhealthy habit a serious concern for lawmakers. One legislator is trying to criminalize smoking in his state, while others have raised taxes on cigarettes and the Obama administration has tried to inflict hefty fines upon smokers’ premiums.

Karen Pollitz, a former consumer protection regular, told AP that no insurers want to provide coverage for Americans who have been smoking for decades, and that the penalties might prompt people to abandon the habit.

“You would have the flexibility to discourage them,” she told AP.

But quitting is not easy, and charging older smokers up to three times as much as younger ones could make it difficult for them to seek care in the first place. A 60-year-old smoker charged with the penalty could be paying about $8,411 per year for health insurance, which is about 24 percent of a $35,000 income and is considered “unaffordable” under federal law.

“The effect of the smoking (penalty) allowed under the law would be that lower-income smokers could not afford health insurance,” said Richard Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions.

Ultimately, the law that is meant to make health care more affordable could have the opposite effect on older smokers at a time when smoking-related illnesses usually arise.

__________________My Message to President-Elect Donald Trump:America did NOT became great because of what government did. America became great because of what the U.S. Constitution prevented our government from doing. The people made America great.

I have zero issue with higher risk activities warranting higher premiums. Nothing at all wrong with that. The only thing I take issue with are quotes like " 450,000 US residents die of smoking-related diseases each year."

While technically true, it is COMPLETELY misleading. This is not saying that 450,000 people died as a direct result of smoking... but it certainly sounds like it doesn't it?

It would be the same as if I just took the numbers of all the people who died from diabetes or heart failure and lumped them in as "obesity related" deaths.

Just to be clear, smoking isn't healthy, that's a fact. It increases risk for cancer and other health issues. It would be ridiculous for insurers not to charge more. Its probably getting charged at a much higher rate then it warrants but that's a private business decision and it isn't just based on smoking alone but the fact that smokers also tend to fall into other categories for higher risk. Sadly, this tends to target the lower class disproportionately but them's the breaks.

While i do agree that choices made on an individual level should effect life or health insurance rates, what i have a problem with is the details.

Lets take hypertension. Millions suffer from it, and a good percentage of them don't smoke and have a good diet. They will be lumped into that category too. Paying higher premiums because they have high blood pressure. There is also HBP that cant be controlled by meds. You charge them higher to if this condition starts while they are already insured?

Yet another right-wing nuttery post that's completely untrue, and the OP slinks away to post another one later.

No one knows wtf you're talking about, so nothing new and carry on.

__________________
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father ... And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

While i do agree that choices made on an individual level should effect life or health insurance rates, what i have a problem with is the details.

Lets take hypertension. Millions suffer from it, and a good percentage of them don't smoke and have a good diet. They will be lumped into that category too. Paying higher premiums because they have high blood pressure. There is also HBP that cant be controlled by meds. You charge them higher to if this condition starts while they are already insured?

I have HBP. I should be charged more than someone who has not ate too many pizzas.

__________________
Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

I have HBP. I should be charged more than someone who has not ate too many pizzas.

Ya' know here's what you progs miss as a fundamental point. Private insurance is a voluntarily entered deal. It is not with govt. So the govt has no authority to be penalizing or rewarding any such behaviors. This is especially true for the Federal govt. You guys never make this distinction.

__________________My Message to President-Elect Donald Trump:America did NOT became great because of what government did. America became great because of what the U.S. Constitution prevented our government from doing. The people made America great.

Ya' know here's what you progs miss as a fundamental point. Private insurance is a voluntarily entered deal. It is not with govt. So the govt has no authority to be penalizing or rewarding any such behaviors. This is especially true for the Federal govt. You guys never make this distinction.

Democrats want democracy it isn't really anything new..Always been 2 wolves and a sheep deciding on whats for dinner.

__________________
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father ... And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

All this needs is someone to post "Peyton Manning", "Q", or "Too fat /omaha" and I think we've got all the bases covered here.

3/7 isn't too bad bro....

__________________
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father ... And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

"Beginning in 2014 every American will have to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. That much the Supreme Court’s June 28 decision on the Affordable Care Act made perfectly clear. What the justices’ ruling didn’t resolve: how the individual mandate will be enforced. That task, along with dozens of others, now falls to the IRS."

Maybe the difference between private sector insurance and Obamacare is having the Brownshirts of the IRS knocking down your door in the middle of the night to search for tobacco and desserts and fatty meats.

Maybe the difference betwe en private sector insurance and Obamacare is having the Brownshirts of the IRS knocking down your door in the middle of the night to search for tobacco and desserts and fatty meats.